Three Little Words
by linesfade
Summary: After finding out Elizabeth really isn't dead, John and his team mount a rescue mission. He knows that the rescue won't only be for her body, to bring her home, but for her heart and mind as well. Post-Lifeline/Adrift. AU.
1. All Things Unsaid

**Title:** All Things Unsaid  
**Author:** Rayvin813  
**Summary:** A meeting between John and Elizabeth...but nothing is what it seems. (Part one of six.)  
**Pairing:** John/Elizabeth  
**Spoilers:** Adrift/Lifeline.  
**Rating:** PG-13 (to be safe)  
**Warnings:** Brief mention of possible character death/torture. And tissues? Maybe?

**All Things Unsaid**

She calls his name in his dreams, and he'd even swear that he hears her laughter reverberating through the empty halls of Atlantis while everyone else is sleeping. He can feel her presence next to him as he stands in contemplative silence on the balcony that they'd shared for the last three years, their own sacred place to wind down after the day's events. Somehow, without her, now it doesn't seem so welcoming.

It doesn't surprise him that he hears her voice call out to him in the forest on Kehdal as he secures the perimeter around the small village. He ignores it once, but it comes again, barely louder the second time.

_"John? Can you hear me?"_

It's faint, like some soft, forbidden caress that comes on the wind, but his ears catch it. He spares a brief moment to glance around his immediate surroundings and finds nothing but trees.

_"I knew you could hear me, John,"_ the voice says again, and it sends a shiver up his spine, the same shiver her voice could always elicit from him, no matter how far away. _"I'm here with you…"_

His eyes narrow as he turns in a circle, his eyes flying wildly in every direction, trying to locate the source of the voice. Where had it come from?!

"Lizbeth?" he ventures, praying that he's not going crazy, that she really is here in the solitude of this place with him. "Where are you?"

He can hear the smile in her answer as her voice caresses his skin, like a cat rubbing over every bare expanse of skin that it could find. He shivers at the effect the voice has on him, and smiles into the emptiness of the forest.

_"Right beside you."_

He turns to his left, and then to his right. He sees nothing. Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he catches a small movement and hefts his P-90 in a single, smooth motion, perfected by years of in-depth firearms training. He's instantly ready to fire his weapon, but he can feel the butterflies beginning in the pit of his stomach.

He watches in amazement as she emerges from the trunk of one of the trees, as if she had been a part of it. She has a glow about her as she shifts shapes, and it almost seems as if there are little pieces of her still clinging to the rough bark of the tree. Those bits of silver and white stretch out behind her as she emerges, and his jaw hangs open as he stares in disbelief at the sight before him.

She is dressed in all white and her hair slightly longer than he remembered. He doesn't try to deny the fact that the smile on her face makes him want to fall to his knees and thank God above for returning her to him. He stumbles forward for a couple of steps before finally just stopping and letting her come to him. He takes in the way her soft brown curls flow over her shoulders and almost touch the tops of her breasts. She doesn't breathe. But then again, she doesn't need to. He can almost hear the nanites humming within her as he reaches out to trace her cheek with one hand, the other letting the P-90 fall back to his side, safety on. She closes her eyes and leans into his touch ever-so-slightly, and John has to fight the instantaneous urge to draw her into a hug.

"Elizabeth?" he asks in a whisper, afraid that his voice would crack if he actually used it. The whisper is almost too soft to hear, but it doesn't matter. She hears him.

"It's me, John. I'm here."

She smiles again and it seems to brighten everything around them. He admits to himself that he's amazed by her. Closing the small space between them, he takes her into his arms in one swift movement and buries his face into her hair. The scent of vanilla and jasmine overwhelm his senses and he smiles into her soft tresses.  
"God, Lizbeth, I've missed you…"

He feels her arms tighten around him and can almost see her smile at his comment. "I've missed you, too, John."

He feels her take both of his arms in her hands. He pulls back slowly and gazes up into her green eyes questioningly. "What is it?"

"John, I don't have much time," she tells him hurriedly. "I had to warn you. Something terrible is about to happen and I don't think that I can stop it."

She holds out her hand to him, and in it a small microchip materializes before his eyes. "This was all that I was able to get before they caught me. I don't know..," her voice cracks, and John touches her face softly once again, caressing her cheek with his thumb. "I don't know if they'll shut me down or not, so please use this wisely. Plug it into one of the spare ports on the dialing console in the control room and it will give you everything that you'll need to defeat the Asurans: weaknesses, strongholds, everything. It also has everything that you need to recharge the depleted ZPM's or construct new ones. Rodney will understand. Please, John, be careful with this. This may be my last act as your friend."

She glances behind her quickly and then turns wild eyes back to the man before her. He notes the haunted look in her eyes and he feels his stomach lurch.

"Lizbeth, let me help you!" He begs her as he grabs her by the upper arm. _"Please!"_

She smiles at him sadly. "I know you want to, John. But you can't. No one can help me now. I'm on my own."

His jaw works up and down for a moment, and finally settles in a grimace. He curses her stubbornness and resigns himself to crossing his arms over his chest.

"Please, John, smile for me," she whispers as a single tear falls down her cheek, leaving a glistening trail behind it. She opens her hand once more, and a long-stemmed red flower that slightly resembles a rose materializes in it. She hands the flower to him as several more tears follow the first. As his hand closes around the flower, she slips the microchip into his hand as well. "It was wonderful to see you again. Tell everyone hello for me."

He gives her the briefest of smiles as she glances over her shoulder again.

"I'm sorry. I have to go. Be safe, John," she tells him as she looks at him again, directly in his eyes. "I'm _so_ sorry I didn't tell you before…I love you, John Sheppard. Save our people!"

He watches as she turns and darts off into the forest, the white gown leaving a slight ghost trail behind her as she moves. She never looks back, and he can feel his eyes welling up with tears. Wiping his eyes with the back of his hand, he breathes out and in slowly. He has to be strong, if only for her.

On the wind, he hears her voice one last time.

_"I love you, John Sheppard. Be safe…always."_

:x:

John Sheppard wakes with a jolt, and sits straight up in his bunk on Atlantis. His hands fly to his bare chest, and he can feel his heart beating rapidly. He takes several calming, deep breaths. And closes his eyes to try and clear his mind of what had only been a dream.

Faintly, he catches the scent of Jasmine and vanilla wafting from one corner of his room. He gets up from the bed and follows the scent across the room, only to find that, on his dresser, lay the microchip and the exotic rose that his dream-Elizabeth had given him.

It takes all that he has to fight the tears threatening to fall. She had contacted him in his dreams. He takes the rose from the dresser's top and retreats back to his bed where he falls backward onto it, cradling the rose lovingly in his hands. He lies back on his pillows and places the rose over his chest, breathing in its sweet perfume.

John Sheppard hadn't cried since he was seven. His father had beaten him for showing weakness, so he'd vowed to never cry again. He was _not_ a weak man. The only other time he'd come close to crying was when Nancy had left him, but the tears had never found their way out. Now, however, they seemed to know every route on the map of his face as they trickled down in all different directions. He closed his eyes tightly and just let them fall.

He cried for himself. He cried for everyone that he'd never allowed himself to cry for. He cried for the city of Atlantis and all of its crew. But most of all, he cried for the one woman that he'd held back from; the one woman that he hadn't been able to keep out of his heart and his mind. He cried in his regret for not telling her how he really felt about her.

He cried because _she_ had found the courage to tell _him._

"Elizabeth"" he sobbed into his empty room, not caring that she couldn't hear him. "I'm so sorry. I love you, Lizbeth…more than life. _Always._"

As he continued to cry and repeat his deepest secret to the silence of a room that he thought no one could penetrate, several thousand light years away, Elizabeth, strapped to a table, could hear him. She had always been able to hear him, even when he thought she couldn't. Despite her situation, despite everything she knew that she was about to go through, she smiled.

She _smiled. _

And it was just for _him._


	2. He Will Come

**Title:** He Will Come  
**Author:** Rayvin813  
**Pairing:** John/Elizabeth  
**Spoilers:** Adrift/Lifeline.  
**Rating:** PG/PG-13 (to be safe)  
**Warnings:** Implied torture

**He Will Come**

Her vision flickers. Black into white and then back to the despairing black again.

It happens over and over, and she wants to fight the dark with every ounce in her being, but it's also her one place of refuge. Because of him.

She knows that they are controlling her, trying to find out where she ends and the nanites begin. They hadn't encountered a human hybrid, not for the last ten thousand years, so they had made her their guinea pig. She had told them as much, but they hadn't understood what the phrase meant.

Not that she had expected them to.

She sighs and leans back against the wall in her cell as the deep dark overtakes her over once more. She calls up a scene in her mind, one of the few that she is able to keep from them, and she watches it play out again. Sometimes she will place herself inside the vision and take part in it, altering what had really happened. But at this point in time, she is just content to let it play.

She remembers the slight tingle as she had crushed his lips to her own, the barest nip of teeth across her bottom lip, and the grind of his teeth as they met hers. At the time, she had felt it awkward, but in this place…she welcomes the memory. Her fingertips move up to her lips as the vision plays yet again, in slow motion, and despite everything, she smiles.

This time through, she inserts herself into the vision and begins altering the reality of what had happened. She lets one hand remain on his cheek, and strokes the stubble of his beard with her thumb. This time, instead of Thalan and Phoebus, it is John and Elizabeth.

He smiles at her and dips his head down to taste her lips again. He tastes like sugar, like he'd just poured a packet of the stuff into his mouth in the commons area. She smiles against his lips and holds his forehead to hers.

"I miss you, John," she whispers, hoping that no one would overhear her. Her eyes flick up to his, and he meets her gaze equally, matching the longing in hers with the need in his own.

"I know," he whispers back, a wistful smile taking over his face. "And you know I'm not just going to leave you here."

She smiles again. She knows.

"I'm coming, Lisbeth. I promise," His eyes search hers until they find belief in his words. Only then does he smile for her.

Her knees go weak and he has to catch her before she topples over. The laugh that comes out of his throat is music to her ears. She's missed that laugh more than she's able to admit.

"John, I..."

He places a finger to her lips and she kisses it softly. He smiles down at her, his green eyes shining with love.

"Shh, Lisbeth. Everything is going to be all right. I promise. I'll be back for you."

The vision fades out, and the colors return. She winces at the sudden blast of light and something inside her knows that they are coming for her once more, but smiles again as she hears his final words.

_"I love you, Lisbeth. Be strong. I'm coming..."_


	3. All For Love

**Title:** All For Love  
**Author:** Rayvin813  
**Chapter:** 3/6  
**Summary:** John pilots a risky rescue mission to the Asuran home world...and it's all for love. But will he succeed?  
**Pairing:** Sparky  
**Spoilers:** Adrift/Lifeline.  
**Rating:** PG/PG-13 (to be safe)  
**Warnings:** Violence/Action Sequences

**All For Love**

He wakes up in a cold sweat, the scent of the rose his dream-Elizabeth had given him mingling with the perspiration on his pillow. He lets out a deep breath and sits up slowly, running a shaky hand through his hair. The dreams of her still hadn't left him alone. Even weeks later, eight, to be exact, he was still dreaming of her.

Most often it was a dream of the two of them, him and Elizabeth, when they had been taken over by Phoebus and Thalan. Except, it is always actually him and Elizabeth. And they almost always...

His door chimes, and his earpiece buzzes from where he laid it on his night stand last night in the same instant, startling him out of his thoughts. He groans and rolls himself out of bed, fitting his earpiece into his ear as he pulls his fatigue pants on over his boxers. He consults his digital watch. 0300 hours. He grumbles to himself and presses the comm button on the earpiece.

"This is Sheppard," he croaks out through his dry throat. One hand reached up to massage his vocal cords, while the other runs through his perpetually messy hair.

"Sheppard! This is McKay," his voice is nearly squeaking, a sound that John has missed lately. Excitement in Rodney's voice is usually a good thing, not that John would ever admit it aloud. But now, of all times, it is especially welcome.

"Go ahead, Rodney," he replies as he takes the glass of water from his nightstand and takes a long drink.

"Sheppard, you really need to get down to the control room! You're going to want to see this!" Rodney squeaks again as John grabs the handgun from the drawer in his bedside table, and throws a hand out across his door mechanism. The door opens with a hushing sound, and he finds himself face to face with Major Evan Lorne.

"I'm on my way, Rodney," He replies as he nods a greeting to the major, sliding the weapon into the black leather holster on his belt and snapping the securing button closed. Something about having the gun at his hip, in his favorite cross-draw position makes him feel safer, more in control, even in this situation where he knows he has none.

He races toward the transporter, Lorne on his heels, and he presses the dot that represents the control room with conviction the moment he steps inside. He doesn't wait for Lorne to step across the threshold, it never crosses his mind, but the soldier leaps in at the last minute, before the door glides closed seamlessly. Lorne doesn't say a word. He knows better.

John silently thanks him for that with a simple glance.

His eyes seek out Rodney the instant the door glides open, and strides toward the self-proclaimed genius, purpose plainly written across his face. John is all business as he maneuvers around the various consoles in the control room, and all but ignores the people hovering around the Ancient devices anxiously.

He locates McKay in front of a laptop that is hooked into the console that controls the long-range sensors, and reads the expression on Rodney's face for what it is as the scientist stares unblinking at the monitor: a narrow ray of hope.

He knows Rodney feels guilty for what happened to Elizabeth, after all, it was his idea that got her captured in the first place, but John Sheppard is not a man to lay blame on anyone other than himself, so he places a reassuring hand on the scientist's shoulder as Samantha Carter groggily drags herself down from her office.

_'Elizabeth's office!'_ his mind screams in silent protest, and he has to shake the thought away. He forces himself to focus on the task at hand.

He nods at the woman who has all but taken the place of the woman he loves, has loved for the better part of three years now, and she returns his greeting.

"Morning, Sheppard."

"Colonel," he replies, repeating his nod. He pretends that he hasn't heard the rumors about her appointment to head the Atlantis expedition. With everything in him, he hopes it isn't true. Where would such an appointment leave Elizabeth?

Rodney starts to talk as soon as he sees that both Sheppard and Carter have assembled in the control room, and John tries to follow along for the first thirty seconds, but the conversation morphs into McKay and Carter doing their technical talk back and forth, sharing smiles and amused looks that no one else, except possibly Zalenka, could understand. John's patience wears thin from within the haze of just being roused from his sleep, and interrupts.

"McKay! _English!_"

Rodney just smiles brightly at him. "We've found her."

:x:

He takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly as he engages the cloaking device on the puddlejumper. Ronon sits in the seat behind him, and Teyla occupies the one behind Rodney in the co-pilot's seat. Rodney's fingers tap the edge of the dialing console incessantly, and John's face curls up into a snarl as he glances over at Rodney.

"_McKay_," he growls, his nerves already on edge as they penetrate the perimeter of the Asurans' version of Atlantis. Rodney looks up in confusion.

"What?! I..."

Rodney receives one of John's patented glares, promising one of the most painful deaths imaginable, and he blanches.

"Oh. Ah...sorry," the scientist sputters and crosses his arms over his chest, tucking his hands into his armpits. From behind him, Ronon has to choke back a laugh and shares a look with Teyla. She grins at the exchange up front as well, but her smile fades quickly, knowing what is ahead. They all know what is at stake, and they all want to be as focused and positive as possible. Everyone knows that the smiles on each others' faces have been pasted on, but they fight to make them genuine.

Despite how hard they try to keep that positive frame of mind, John feels as if he could cut the tension in the jumper with a knife. In the rear compartment of the Ancients' ship sit Major Lorne and five Marines, readying themselves for the battle to come. They know that it is likely going to be a one-way mission, but they don't care. They had all put on their bravest faces and squared their shoulders when Carter had asked them if they knew what they were getting themselves into.

"No offense, ma'am," Lorne had told her. "But she is our commander and has been for the last three years. We're not about to abandon her to the replicators. Not when there's a chance we can save her."

Sam had nodded and given the men a sad smile. She understood completely. She had then turned and offered John a look that said that she would do the same thing he was attempting, if their roles had been reversed...especially had it been Jack O'Neill held captive, instead of Doctor Weir.

John put his game face on as he recalled the conversation, and set his frame of mind to positive. There was only one way this mission was going to end: with the successful rescue of Doctor Elizabeth Weir.

"Lorne!" John calls out to the rear of the jumper.

"Sir?" Lorne replies, standing and moving into the forward compartment.

"You know the game plan?" Sheppard asks quietly, trying not to disturb his own thoughts. Rodney glances over at him curiously. Lorne nods his reply.

"Yes, Sir," Lorne turns to walk away, but John catches the back of his black tactical vest as he turns around.

"Evan," he sighs. "Watch your back."

"Always, Sheppard. You just keep an eye on your own six," he replies before shaking John's hand and retreating to his seat in the rear of the jumper.

John hears him giving orders to the marines in the rear compartment, followed by the click-clacking of the men checking their P-90's over for jams or any other malfunctions and securing their ARG's to their vests for a quick switch of the weapons once they are inside the Asurans' citadel.

_'This is going to work,'_ he tells himself as he takes a slow, deep breath. _'It has to.'_

John calls up the HUD and checks all of the sensors. So far, they haven't been detected. If there was one thing that he could have on this operation, it would be to keep their presence a secret at least until they landed. He nods to McKay, and the scientist pulls his PADD out from under his seat and begins tapping away with his stylus. He scribbles a few things and then looks up at John.

"It's done," he tells him, and John smirks.

"Good. Then I'm going in," he replies before calling out to the men in the rear of the jumper. "Everybody hang on!"

A chorus of 'Yes, sirs!' meets his ears as he brings the jumper down on top of one of the south piers that their intel had shown relatively unused for quite some time. He brings the jumper down a little harder than he intended to in his anxiousness, and bites his lip to keep from making a noise.

"Sorry!" he calls out, and Rodney grunts in disapproval. John casts him a look and any protest McKay is thinking about making dies in his throat.

"All right. You all know what to do," John tells them, taking a good long glance at every single one of their faces. "Let's get this done. Everyone watch your asses, and God speed to you all."

"McKay," he turns back to address the man getting up from the co-pilot's seat. "You're staying here. Have the jumper ready to go when we get back...and no complaints. I don't want to have to drag you back to the jumper as well. Understood?"

Rodney nods, but the look of fierce determination never leaves his eyes. He wants to go in as well, but he also understands that it's a risk they can't afford to take. Someone else has to be able to fly the jumper home, should something happen to Lorne and Sheppard on the way in or out.

John nods at Lorne before punching the button to open the rear hatch of the jumper, and the Marines file out, each one covering the others as they move in formation around the sides of the small ship. Evan extends a hand to his superior officer and John shakes it, gripping the other soldier's hand tightly.

"Ready, Colonel?" Lorne asks, a cocky smile on his face. John nods, letting one spread across his face as well. There was a reason he wanted Lorne on this op with him, and it wasn't just because of his marksmanship with an ARG. The man knew how to handle himself in combat, and his optimism was always contagious.

"Let's do it, Major," he replies as he follows the Marines to the rear of the ship. Ronon pulls out his weapon, after strapping an ARG to his back, and exits the rear of the jumper boldly as Teyla fits her P-90 to her shoulder and sights down the end of the weapon, covering him. The ARG bounces against her back lightly, but makes no noise. He smiles as he watches her move stealthily along with Ronon.

If he didn't know any better, he'd think that there was something between Ronon and Teyla. Maybe there would be one day, and he knows he'd sure as hell like to be there to see it, so he focuses his eyes over the sights of his own weapon.

Sheppard and Lorne are the last to exit the ship and make their way around one side. Two new Marines, Jacobs and Taylor, are crouched by the port side of the jumper and Sheppard looks at them with complete trust in his eyes.

"You two stay with the jumper, no matter what happens. I'm trusting you to cover us when we come flying back with Replicators on our asses, and to protect McKay at all costs, understood?"

The Marines nod, and Jacobs tugs at his tactical vest nervously.

"Go get her, sir," he tells Sheppard. "We'll be fine here."

Sheppard nods and motions to Lorne to follow Ronon and Teyla. They enter the complex with the advantage of being unnoticed. He prays that they'll come out with that same advantage as well.

:x:

He consults the life signs detector as he points his P-90 down an empty corridor.

"Clear," he mouths to the rest of his team and motions them forward. He's had her located on the detector for the last five minutes, but hasn't said anything. Part of him thinks that if he doesn't announce it, they won't get caught. The rational part of him knows that it isn't true, that it's only a matter of time.

As if reading his thoughts, two more dots representing hostiles pop up on the tiny screen and begin rotating around the one he'd determined to be Elizabeth. Two others were holding position on the other side of the wall from her location. He immediately comes to a halt and holds up a fist, signaling to the rest of the team to follow suit. The members of his team shrink back into the shadows in the corridor and he curses mentally. Their task had just doubled in complexity right before his eyes.

Sighing, he leans out from his hiding place and peeks out into the hallway. He casts his eyes over the corridor in a quick sweep, and notes two of the new figures, sentries, standing on either side of the door they are looking to go through.

He leans back into his hiding place and grumbles to himself. So much for going unnoticed. He holds up two fingers to signal the amount of hostiles in the hallway, and motions to the Marines to go in ahead of the rest of the team.

The two men in the black tac vests nod and silently sneak down the hallway, using the shadows as cover. They have both long since switched their near-useless P-90's for ARG's, and point and fire at the sentries guarding the door. They hold up a hand to tell everyone else that it is now all clear as the two replicators fall into tiny pieces in the middle of the hall before anyone can be alerted to the presence of nine intruders. Intruders who should be long-since dead or gone.

John takes point, Lorne and Teyla flanking him, and Ronon bringing up the rear as they move from their hiding spots. He leads them down the dim corridor and, once he reaches the door with the two Marines standing guard, and presses himself flush against the wall. He now trades his P-90 for his ARG, and everyone else that hasn't already done so follows suit. Something in his mind wonders why they even brought the automatic weapons, and frowns at the thought. If it gets to the point that they have to use the P-90's against the Asuran forces, they'll be _incredibly_ past 'screwed.'

He mentally smacks himself for thinking that way. Now is when it counts. Now is when he can't let her down.

He takes a deep breath, steps out from the wall, and readies his ARG as Ronon fires a blast at the door mechanism. He smirks and looks at Ronon. The Satedan smiles back at him as the door jams in its track. Whether or not it's a trick of the Asurans, he knows that they have more than enough manpower to get the door open and get in.

He and Ronon line up side by side, and Lorne joins them at the last minute. Casting a sideways glance at the other two, Lorne grins and sets his stance.

As the door mechanism begins its opening motion again, the three men move together in unison and level a loud, echoing kick against the door.

John smirks as the door opens before them and takes a deep breath.

"Game time," he murmurs as he leads the team into the room.


	4. Fly Me Away

**Title:** Fly Me Away  
** Author:** Rayvin813  
** Chapter:** 4/6  
** Summary:** A fight. A daring rescue. Strange metaphysics. A love story. Everything is complicated in the Pegasus Galaxy. Can John and his team make it out alive?  
** Pairing:** John/Elizabeth  
** Spoilers:** Adrift/Lifeline.  
** Rating:** PG/PG-13 (to be safe)  
** Warnings:** Violence/Action Sequences

**Fly Me Away**

She knows they're here. They used the chip she'd passed onto John to locate her.

Good, Rodney.

She can feel them, and she wants nothing more than to jump for joy, but something tells her that it won't be such a good thing once Oberoth finds out.

He thinks he's been able to mostly reprogram her, but everything that he and the others have done has been in vain. So far, she's been able to conceal it from him, thanks to the wonderful job Rodney did when he reprogrammed the nanites within her, but she knows that it infuriates them that she hasn't been turned into another mindless machine for Oberoth to command. They can't always get inside her mind as far as they would like, and _that_ frustrates them farther. They would like to assimilate her into the Asuran population, but she fights it every time they try, and they have always chalked their failure up to her still being half-human, not to her resistance.

She's often heard them talk amongst themselves about making her completely one of them. Every word they say echoes in her mind, but she's able to keep herself hidden behind a firewall that she had constructed on her own in the dark silence between the times that they had come for her, and John and Rodney had helped her to do that.

The testing hadn't been pleasant, to say the least. She had known about torture, had even been around people who had been tortured in her career with the United States government, but had never had the misfortune of being tortured herself. Until now.

The echoes of their harmful, bruising words still haunt her in her sleep...if she can even call it sleep. The lies that they feed her tell her that no one cares about what becomes of her, that no one is coming for her, that she would be left to die. Alone.

But she smiles as she realizes that every word Oberoth and the others had ever spoken to her had been part of a greater lie, something just as fabricated as each cell in their bodies, just as fabricated as the tiny machines in her body that were keeping her alive. She smiles because today is the day that she gets to go home.

Before Oberoth knows what's happening, she raises an eyebrow, something completely human and _completely_ Elizabeth, and thrusts her hand into the Asuran leader's cranium. She immerses him inside a construct of the room where he thinks that he is attempting once again to reprogram her so that she might become one of them. This time, she lets him think he's winning. She can feel how overjoyed he is at the prospect of finally assimilating her, and she inwardly smirks.

If only he knew.

From out in the hallway, she hears a scuffle, and has to concentrate harder to keep her excitement from overriding her hold on Oberoth.

She resists him within the construct, and he snarls at her defiance. But eventually she knows that she will have to give in, just to keep him enthralled in this altered state. Until then, she will fight him with everything she has.

A blast from a weapon out in the hallway distracts her for a moment, and she almost loses her composure. She quickly returns her focus to the leader of the Asurans and lets him feel another blast of her unwavering resistance as she sinks completely into the construct so that she won't be distracted as the extraction team bursts in.

_'Why do you fight us, Doctor Weir?' Oberoth asks her from within the construct, and she snarls at him through clenched teeth._

_'You won't turn me against my people, Oberoth. You underestimate me if you think I'll just fall to my knees before you,' she growls._

_He laughs at her and holds up a hand, causing her to double over as a searing pain slashes through her stomach._

_'You will join us, Doctor. I do not doubt our methods.'_

She separates the pain center of her brain from the construct just in time as he lashes out once again. She watches, feeling like she is hovering above her own body, as a snake-like object protrudes from his hand and then slices through her stomach like she'd experienced so many times before. The nanites heal her quickly, but she still falls to her knees in pain, holding one arm over her midsection protectively. She cries out, and he sees it for a sign of weakness. He smiles down at her wickedly, and a tear escapes from the corner of her eye.

She cowers as he reaches for her, and he pulls back curiously, gazing at his hand as if it had grown another finger. His eyes flick over to her cowering form, and he watches her curiously.

It had been years since he'd seen someone cower in fear of him, so he relishes this new development out of her. He thinks it's a good sign of her giving in. He smiles, and continues his harsh treatment of the half-human woman before him.

:x:

The door opens and his eyes lock on her instantly. His heart pounds harder than he remembers it ever pounding before, and he takes aim at the leader of the replicator race with his ARG.

"Lisbeth?" he tries, and receives no answer.

"Elizabeth? Can you hear me?" he tries again, and almost touches her shoulder, but a flick of her eyes to his hand stops him.

"Don't, John," she protests quickly, stopping his hand in midair. "He'll know you're here if you touch me."

"It's good to see you too, Lisbeth," he smirks, and the briefest of smiles flashes across her face. He hears the blast of an ARG, and looks up to find Teyla, Lorne and Ronon taking out the five frozen scientists in the room with them.

"Too bad," he hears Ronon remark. "It's not near as fun if they're frozen like that."

He smiles and turns back to the woman he's missed for the last two months, and all he wants to do is run his fingers through her hair and kiss her senseless. His fingers ache to touch her, his arms to hold her, but he resists. Because she asked him to.

"What can I do, Lisbeth?" he asks quietly.

_"Kill him,"_ she whispers, and he doesn't mistake the fear in her voice, or in her eyes.

"You got it," Ronon growls and levels his ARG at Oberoth.

"_NO!_" John cries out, holding up a hand to halt Ronon's firing. "If you shoot him now, it might kill _her_. Then what would all of this be for?"

He turns back to Elizabeth, and notes the grimace on her face. He knows she's having trouble keeping in control of the Asuran population and he wants to do something, anything, to help. He draws as close to her as he dares and leans into her ear.

"Elizabeth," he whispers, and she flicks wild eyes over to his face. "Lisbeth, I need you to stop now."

"...Can't," she chokes out. "They'll know."

He hangs his head at her stubbornness. "I _came_ here to rescue you, Lisbeth. I'm not leaving _without_ you!"

He nods at Ronon and reaches out, seizing Elizabeth's hands, and pulling her backward into his arms. He holds her tightly to his chest as she screams her protests at his ear, trying with all her might to kick out of his grasp. Oberoth barely shakes himself alert before Ronon blasts him with his ARG, smiling as he pulls the trigger.

The Replicator leader's face registers a shocked expression before crumbling to the floor in thousands of metallic chips. Her scream of protest pierces the humming silence, and John does all he can to keep her quiet. He knows the replicators will be coming for them now, and that they'll likely have to fight their way out.

He turns her around roughly and takes her face in his hands and looks her directly in her eyes. The panic he finds there is almost overwhelming, but he knows that if she fights them, he'll have no choice other than to hit her with a stunner blast. She would be too strong to subdue otherwise.

"Lisbeth, listen to me," he pleads quietly, trying not to startle her any more. The wild flicking of her green eyes tells him that she isn't listening, so he takes her face in his hands and forces her to look at him. "Lisbeth, we have to go. I need you to focus."

"John, you have no idea what you've done..." she whispers, her voice panicky.

Her head jerks to one side, and her eyes focus on something far away. He watches her curiously, ducking his head in an attempt to catch her eye again.

"They're coming," she announces, snapping her eyes back up to meet his. "We have to move. _Now._"

Ronon catches his eye, and John knows what he's asking: _Is she all right?_ He wishes he knew.

She moves quickly throughout the room, gathering the trio of stunners from the piles of metal chips on the floor and distributing them throughout the group of her rescuers, giving one to Major Lorne and one to Teyla. She finally stops before John and hands him the last stunner, letting her hand linger over his for a moment longer than necessary. He sees the gratitude in her eyes, but it's masked by panic.

He grips her hand in his tightly in reassurance. "We'll make it out of here, Lisbeth, I promise."

She nods. "I know. But we have to go now. They're almost here."

He motions to the rest of his team and the soldiers in the room to get ready to move as he taps the comm unit on his ear.

"Rodney, this is Sheppard," he speaks quietly as they begin to mobilize.

"Sheppard?"

"We've got her, Rodney, we're on our way back to the jumper, so have it ready to go when we get there."

"You got it, Sheppard. We'll be ready. McKay out."

He nods and takes Elizabeth by the hand, leading her out into the hallway. He motions for Lorne to take point, and Ronon and Teyla bring up the rear. They all nod and take their positions, ready for anything as they begin to make their way back to the jumper.

The first few yards are simple, too simple, and something in the pit of his stomach tells him something is about to go terribly wrong.

The spurt of blood from one of the Marines' legs makes his heart leap into his throat, and the lack of the report of weapons fire worries him more than anything. He instinctively throws Elizabeth to the wall, and she sucks in a deep breath as her shoulder impacts roughly. He places himself in front of her like a shield, showing no concern for himself as he returns fire at the advancing replicators.

"John," she whispers at his ear. "I'll be fine, I promise."

"Not a chance, Lisbeth," he calls back, and suddenly he can hear everything happening. The gunfire echoes loudly in the hallway, and another Marine falls to his knees, blood pouring from his right leg. Teyla steps up and fires at the replicators who are advancing on the fallen soldier, allowing the wounded marine to quickly field dress his wound. He thanks Teyla for her efforts by firing point-blank into the face of the replicator sneaking up on her from behind, a knife in his hand.

She nods her thanks at him as she kicks the knife up into her hand and throws it, blade first, at another advancing replicator, staggering him backward for a moment so that she could get her ARG up to fire at him. He breaks up into a thousand tiny pieces before their eyes, the last piece falling and echoing in the now-silent hallway.

John pulls himself away from the wall, ARG up and at the ready, as he allows Elizabeth room to breathe.

She pushes herself off of the wall gingerly, and follows John down the hallway several more steps. As she walks, the corridors seem to grow longer and more confusing. She shakes her head to try and clear her mind, but it doesn't seem to help much, so she latches onto the back of John's tac vest. He reaches one hand around his back and squeezes her wrist reassuringly.

As soon as his hand leaves her wrist, she realizes how much her comfort level rises when he's around. Despite the situation, she smiles.

She feels a slight twitch in the back of her head, and fists the loose material on his vest. She takes the stunner from the waistband of his pants and aims it over his shoulder at nothing, but she knows something is coming.

"What is it, Lisbeth?" he whispers, but before she can reply, they are surrounded by Replicators.

John, again, presses her to the wall in a protective gesture, and aims his ARG at the nearest Replicator.

"Please, hand over Doctor Weir, and we will not terminate you or your team, Colonel Sheppard," The Replicator facing John tells him coolly.

John simply stares back into his empty eyes, and gives him his trademark smirk. "Not a chance in hell. She's coming home with me."

"If you do not comply, we will be forced to terminate all of you," The Replicator warns again as he raises his weapon and takes sight at John's head.

Elizabeth takes a deep breath and gathers all of the courage that she can muster before leaping out from behind John's protective embrace and thrusts a hand out toward the Replicator with the weapon, and concentrates with all of her might on what she had been taught by Oberoth during one of their many testing sessions. She feels the power build up in the palm of her hand, as if it were being held back by a dam, and then she allows it a small conduit to exit through. The power gives her the biggest rush she's felt in a long time as it pours down her arm and through her palm, sending the Replicator crashing against the wall. John then hits him with a blast from his ARG, making the Replicator fall in hundreds of tiny, inert pieces to the floor.

For a moment, everything is silent, and John hopes that the Replicators will back away and let them go. He knows his hopes are in vain, but he can't help but retain the sentiment. At least up until the point where the Replicators begin to raise their weapons again.

Elizabeth places a hand on his shoulder, silently telling him not to stop her. She steps out in front of him, in the middle of the melee, extends both arms outward and unleashes that power once again. She sends every Replicator within their vicinity flying backwards. The marines, Lorne, and the rest of Sheppard's team, take that opportunity to begin firing their ARG's at the prone Replicators.

Out of the corner of his eye, John catches Elizabeth collapse to the ground in a heap, and he gets off one final blast before he bends down to pull her out of the line of fire. He caresses her cheek lightly and her eyes flutter open, just the slightest amount, and she offers him a weak smile.

"You came back."

He allowed himself a small smile as he gazed into her haunted green eyes, finding only the tiniest hint of the Elizabeth he'd grown to know over the past three years.

"You think I'd just leave you here, Lisbeth?" He smirked at her, and she smiled.

"No. I never doubted you'd be _stubborn_ enough to come back," she teased weakly, giving him a hint of a smile.

"That's my girl," he tells her before kneeling in front of her and blasting away at the remainder of the Replicators. As the last one falls, he doesn't miss a beat. He tosses the life signs detector to Lorne and scoops Elizabeth up in his arms. She takes the ARG from his shoulder and aims it in front of them as he runs.

She can feel his heart beating wildly against his chest from her position in his arms, and she knows she has to do whatever she can to keep the both of them from being hurt. Despite her head spinning like a top, she hold the ARG tightly to her shoulder, firing it at any unsuspecting Replicators that cross their path.

By the time they make it to the jumper, she's seeing a black cloud forming around the outside of her vision, and her head is lolling backwards onto John's shoulder. He shakes her awake as much as he can while running and shouts her name. She knows he's worried about her passing out, but she knows that it's an inevitability.

"It's okay, John," she tells him over the exchange of ARG and stunner fire. "I'll be all right. Just fly me away from here."

As the team makes it safely into the jumper, a little worse for wear, but miraculously without casualties, she finally lets the darkness overtake her...and the last thing that she sees is the jumper's rear hatch sealing shut, and John's worried gaze as he glances down at her, standing protectively over her, his ARG pressed tightly to his shoulder and aimed at the ever-shrinking gap of the hatch.


	5. Let Love In

**Title:** Let Love In  
** Author:** Rayvin813  
** Chapter:** 5/6  
** Summary:** The rescue attempt was a success, but he knows something within her has been broken...and it's something he's not sure if he can fix.  
** Pairing:** John/Elizabeth  
** Spoilers:** Adrift/Lifeline.  
** Rating:** PG/PG-13 (to be safe)  
** Warnings:** Maybe tissues. ;)

**Let Love In**

He watches her in silence from the doorway to her quarters as she rocks back and forth on the far side of her bed, glancing out into an unfamiliar ocean with a troubled look on her face. She knows he's there, and she's okay with it. She knows that he knows, but despite how much she wants to, she doesn't say a word. She can't.

Not yet.

Weeks had passed since they'd rescued her from the Asurans, but there was still something off in her behavior. At first, Samantha Carter had been worried that it had to do with the nanites inside of her, that they had somehow been reprogrammed, but after Rodney and John's repeated pleas not to send her back to the SGC, and the IOA's hesitant okay, she had allowed the negotiator to stay. She had conducted the tests herself, with a few seldom assists from McKay, since he had been the one to reprogram them in the first place, and had determined that there was no danger from the tiny machines coursing through her veins.

Elizabeth Weir's disconcerting behavior is completely within her mind, and she knows that it tears John apart inside to see her like that. She knows that he wants nothing more than to wipe away every worry that she feels, every tear that falls down her face, but she won't. For some reason, she can't even bring herself to allow him even the slightest of touches.

She can hear him cry at night, and she knows that every tear is for her, for what could be between them.

John Sheppard is a man who never cries in front of others, who is afraid to show his emotions, yet his tears still fall because of her, and that, more than anything, tears her up inside. She visits his dreams every night, telling him how sorry she is for everything. She wakes up every morning, saddened that another night has ended, and retreats back into her self-contained enclosure. Each day he casts her a glance of silent thankfulness that she allows him to share any time at all, and she gives him a small smile, full of promises that one day she will return to him.

She wishes she knew when it would be.

"Lisbeth," he almost whispers, stepping inside her room. "I know...that you don't want to talk about it. But I've seen the way you act around Keller..."

Her eyebrow arches at the name, as if she's trying to remember it, to attach a face to it.

"Jennifer...Dr. Keller," he whispers, reminding her, and he feels her mind touch his, searching for a face. It's an odd sensation, a slight tingling in the memory center of his brain, but she makes it quick, finds what she's searching for and leaves his mind. He almost cries out at the sudden absence of her mind in his. It's the most contact she's allowed him since he helped her into the jumper in the Asurans' city, and he's learned to relish every bit of contact she allows him, metaphysical or otherwise.

"Lisbeth, I'm worried about you," he continues, his voice rising to a quiet rumble. She shudders at the sound as it slithers down her spine, and a brief smile crosses her face. "You jump every time someone touches you, every time a needle touches your skin. I know that..."

He pauses, trying to find the words, "...I know that they did horrible things to you, but _dammit_, Elizabeth, you need to let us help you."

His cursing isn't helping matters, but she tries to keep in mind that he's frustrated. Everyone is frustrated with her, but they all know that she isn't the Elizabeth Weir that they've grown to know over the last three years. They know that she might never be that same person again. He apologizes quickly, and her eyes dart up to meet his. The sheer panic in her eyes is enough to make him reach out to her, attempting to cup her face with his palm, but she jerks away and stares back out into the ocean.

His hand falls to the mattress and he sighs. She hears him run a hand through his trademark unruly hair and mutter another apology. She knows he's trying, and she wants him to know that she's grateful...but for some reason she can't find a way to tell him, so she just sits there in silence hoping he knows. She hangs her head and turns to him, opening her mouth to speak, but closes it just as quickly. He looks up at her expectantly, hoping she'll say or do anything to let him know that she's in there, that she's still with him.

She looks down at her hand, and suddenly it doesn't seem like hers. It doesn't feel like her skin that flexes over her fingers, the back of her hand, as she reaches out to him and places her hand over his. No matter what it feels like to him, he grips it tightly, and his eyes well up with tears. He knows how much this one simple gesture has cost her, and he loves her all the more for it.

A tear streaks down his cheek and she reaches up with her free hand to wipe it away without thinking about it. For the first time since she's been back in Atlantis, back home, the thought of touching him feels right. She lets her hand linger over his cheekbone longer than necessary and he smiles at her, nuzzling her hand with his cheek. He chokes on his tears as she expects him to do and a sorrowful smile crosses her face. The look in her eyes says how sorry she is.

He knows. He _always_ knows.

She takes a deep breath and leans forward, braving her fears as she touches her lips to his. He kisses her back softly at first, letting her get used to the touch of skin, the intimate dance of his lips over hers. Then he presses harder, running his tongue over the slight curve of her bottom lip. She whimpers as she opens her mouth to him, tasting him and inwardly smiling against the fierceness in his kiss. And the taste that lingers on her lips as he pulls back slowly to gaze into her eyes makes her smile even wider.

Damned if he doesn't taste like _sugar_.


	6. I Love You

**Title:** I Love You  
**Author:** Rayvin813  
**Chapter:** 6/6  
**Summary:** Elizabeth fights to control her fears and heal her mental wounds, so she goes to the one person she can be herself with...  
**Pairing:** John/Elizabeth  
**Spoilers:** Adrift/Lifeline...otherwise, all AU!  
**Rating:** PG-13  
**Warnings:** Implied sexual conduct

**I Love You**

As she emerges from her quarters, she finds the halls of Atlantis empty. The pads of her bare feet echo along the walls as she walks, and the cold of the cement bites into her toes. She is trying to be stealthy but, try as she might, she can't keep the _slap, slap _of her feet from sounding like tiny explosions in the darkness. Thankfully, her destination is only a couple of rooms over, a perk of being a member of the leadership of the Atlantis Expedition.

She glances around before placing a hand on the outer sensor of the door. She hears the inner chime faintly and pulls her hand away before glancing down at the floor. A blush creeps up her cheeks as thinks of her purpose for the visit.

A click, and the door slides open before her, and a disheveled John Sheppard appears, clad only in a pair of boxers and a white t-shirt. His hair is even messier than normal as he runs a hand through it to scratch the back of his neck. Confusion mingles with sleepiness on his face as he looks at her curiously. "Lisbeth? Are you all right?"

She nods, a little too quickly, and she looks up at him. "Yeah. I think so," she whispers, afraid to speak out loud in the silent hallway.

"Come on," he motions for her to follow him into his quarters. She moves quickly, entering his private space and looks around as he closes and locks the door behind her. Oddly enough, his room is fairly clean, save for the pile of dirty clothes in the far corner, and a sweatshirt draped over the back of his office chair which had been pulled away from the desk where an open file folder is sitting on top of a stack of others, just waiting to be addressed.

"Mission reports, John?" she asks quietly, a smile tugging at the corners of her lips.

He clears his throat and leans back against the door. "Yeah, well, I'm a week behind. Those things don't just do themselves, you know."

"I know," she smiles and turns to face him. She brushes her smile away and gazes at him in all seriousness. She knows she's hardly said anything, or even done much socially, since she's been back on Atlantis. The IOA has called her credibility into question multiple times in the last two months, and she's watched as John had fought tooth-and-nail for her to be able to stay on base and not be turned over to the SGC for endless rounds of testing. The thing that hurts her the most is that she hasn't been able to even tell him a simple _'thank you.'_ The panic rises in her throat and she fights for a smile.

"John? I know I haven't really been the woman who left here all those months ago..."

"Lisbeth," he whispers as he rubs his face with both hands, a sure sign that he's tired of dealing with the whole situation.

"Please, John, let me finish. This is...hard enough for me right now. I've been wanting to tell you what all I've gone through, what all they did to me while I was there with the Replicators, but somehow I just..._can't_. It makes me feel so _weak _and I _hate_ it. I have _NEVER _been a weak woman in my life, so this is all that much harder," she pauses and takes a deep breath in anticipation of her confession. "I want to be able to tell you that they toyed with my emotions, my body, my _mind_, and the only thing that kept me going...was the thought of _you_."

The words pour from her mouth too quickly to stop them, and she hopes that he caught every word because she's not sure she'd ever be able to repeat them.

He opens his mouth to speak, but thinks better of it and reaches out a hand to her. She knows that he's afraid she won't take it, that the touch from anyone has seemed like too much to bear since she's been back in the place she calls home. Despite all that she's seen and been through, she swallows her panic and reaches out to him, taking his hand in hers and pressing it to her lips.

After everything that she's been through, every bit of suffering she's endured, she finally finds the words she's been wanting to say to him since she's been home. She looks him right in his eyes, her green eyes filled with sincerity as she speaks, and he feels the weight of that truth under her gaze.

She throws herself against him, collapsing in his arms as he holds her tightly to his chest. He feathers kisses against the top of her head as he holds her so tightly she can hardly breathe. She feels a knuckle under her chin, and struggles to raise her chin so that she can look him in the eyes. He releases her just enough for her to look up at him, and she feels his slight hesitation in the moment before he claims her lips with his.

Something within her screams in panic and wants to pull away, but she fights it. She's sure he can feel the confusion within her, but he doesn't pull away. He's pushing her, and she knows that she needs it. She forces herself to kiss him back.

She feels the vibration of a moan against her lips, and she fights the unease as she nips at his bottom lip. He pulls her closer, his fingers digging into her lower back. The pressure draws a tiny bit of the stress out of her and she leans into him, letting her body urge him on. He moves his hands up to run his fingers through her hair, and she winces at the slight pain of his fingertips catching on the tiny knots in the brown strands. He pulls away slightly and places a light feathering of kisses against her forehead. She's pretty sure that he whispers an _'I'm sorry' _somewhere in there, but it gets lost in the moment as she takes his lips again, kissing them, exploring them, possessing them.

She knows it's wrong, she knows that she's on a dangerous edge already, and that taking this step would be the nail in her coffin in the eyes of the IOA. Something inside of her protests, but she squashes that cry just as quickly. The bigger part of her doesn't care, and she kisses him deeper.

She holds the kiss until she's out of breath and pulls away slowly, gasping for the breath she's not entirely sure her body even needs anymore as she looks into his green eyes. For a moment, she's not sure if she remembers his eyes being this green, this inviting. Surely they must have been in the past, right? One thing she is sure of, they have never shown her this much sincerity. John has always hidden behind a mask of bravery, a mask of selflessness. A mask that, now, she knows was only to fool the world around him.

She frowns at the realization of what that mask had meant...that he was alone in the world, and that he truly had only the city to keep him company, despite the masses around him in this beautiful place. She wants to be the one that wiped that aloneness from his eyes, to fill his heart with love, tenderness and be everything that a wife is supposed to be to a husband.

Wait.

Wife? Husband?

Was she sure? Where had that thought come from? Surely, she rationalized, if she'd thought it, she must mean it. She must want that somewhere deep inside herself.

A knuckle touches the bottom of her jawline, just barely, and she jumps, startled out of her thoughts. She sees worry flash across his face as she registers his eyes again, and she pulls him tightly in reassurance as he mumbles a series of _'I'm sorry's'_ into her hair, over and over again.

Her lips cover the length of the collarbone that is exposed from underneath his worn-out black t-shirt, and he shudders, pulling her tighter to him. She manages to wriggle out of his embrace, just enough to look up into his eyes.

"John, if they take me away..."

"They won't." He tells her simply, and she sees the firmness in his eyes. She knows that the IOA won't get her without a fight, and to the death, if that's what it takes.

"John, please. Just let me...I have to tell you something," she tells him, placing a hand on his chest so that he knows she's trying for a serious moment. She takes in a deep breath and steadies herself. "If they take me away...I need you to know...that I love you, John. And I'm sorry that it took me this long to say it."

She watches as a smile blossoms over his face, the smile that she's grown to fall in love with over the years, and takes her in his arms once more, crushing her to his chest.

"I know," he tells her as he pulls her close, breathing in the very scent of her. She feels his breath, feather soft on the side of her neck as he lays a layer of kisses over her skin. His lips pull away, damp with the perspiration from her neck, and he moves onto her lips. "And I love you, too."

Her eyes lock onto his and her face breaks into a seductive grin, nodding to him that where their relationship is headed is okay with her. As he loosely fists the hair that's grown so much longer during her captivity at the nape of her neck and lays her gently back onto the bed, he trails kisses along her jawline and down into the hollow of her throat.

She closes her eyes and writhes beneath him as he teases her senses and, somewhere in the middle of his touches and hot kisses, a thought crosses her mind. For the first time in a long time, she thinks that maybe everything will be all right after all.


End file.
